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12:30 PM ET, November 23, 2025

memeorandum

 Top Items: 
emptywheel:
“Groceries,” and Other Secrets of Managing Donald Trump  —  Three things happened in the last week that have befuddled a lot of observers, but which might best be understood as the kinds of developments we'll see increasingly as the power structure around Trump grows fragile and fluid:
RELATED:
Rob Gillies / Associated Press:
US senators say they spoke with Rubio about Trump's Ukraine peace plan who denied it is a US plan  —  U.S. senators critical of President Donald Trump's approach to ending the Russia-Ukraine war said Saturday they spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio who told them that the peace plan Trump …
Alexandra Marquez / NBC News:
Zohran Mamdani says he still believes Trump is a ‘fascist’ and ‘despot’ after White House meeting  —  The New York City mayor-elect said that while he does believe Trump is a fascist, he still plans on working with the White House on New Yorkers' behalf.  —  New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani …
Associated Press:
Ukraine and Western allies meet to discuss a US peace plan that has sparked alarm in Kyiv and Europe  —  Top European and Ukrainian envoys conferred in Geneva on Sunday ahead of talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio over President Donald Trump's proposal to end Russia's war on Ukraine.
Financial Times:
Lawmakers say US secretary of state rowed back on Ukraine peace plan
Tobi Raji / Washington Post:
Trump says Zelensky can agree to peace plan or ‘fight his little heart out’
Daniel Hannan / Telegraph:
Trump is behaving precisely as he would if he were a Russian asset
Courtney Rozen / Reuters:
Exclusive: DOGE 'doesn't exist' with eight months left on its charter  — DOGE disbanded eight months ahead of scheduled end in July 2026  — Former DOGE employees take new roles in administration  — Elon Musk initially led DOGE, promoting its work on social media
New York Times:
Patel Under Scrutiny for Use of SWAT Teams to Protect His Girlfriend … When Alexis Wilkins, an aspiring country singer dating the F.B.I. director, Kash Patel, sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Atlanta in the spring …
Discussion: NewsMax.com and DNYUZ
Anthony Salvanto / CBS News:
CBS News poll finds most would oppose U.S. military action in Venezuela, say Trump hasn't explained  —  The situation around Venezuela has Americans asking to know more.  —  Across party lines, big majorities say the administration needs to explain what the U.S. intends regarding any action, and that it has not done so clearly yet.
Discussion: NewsMax.com
RELATED:
Jack Revell / The Daily Beast:
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls  —  ROLE PLAY  —  A new feature on Elon Musk's X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.  —  Elon Musk's social media site X has rolled out a new feature in an effort to increase transparency …
Associated Press:
Israel targets Hezbollah chief in first strike on Beirut in months  —  Israel on Sunday struck Lebanon's capital for the first time since June, saying it targeted Hezbollah's chief of staff and warned the Iran-backed militant group not to rearm and rebuild a year after their latest war.
RELATED:
Jonathan Lis / Haaretz:
Israeli Strike in Beirut Targeted Hezbollah's Chief of Staff, Netanyahu's Office Says
Erin Schumaker / Politico:
Kyrsten Sinema Is Ready for Her MAHA Turn … After infuriating progressives time and again for stonewalling their priorities, the Arizona Democrat-turned-Independent decided not to seek reelection last year and instead became a senior adviser at the law and lobbying firm Hogan Lovells.
Politico:
‘Is the price of doing this worth it?’:  North Carolina Republicans worry about Trump immigration raids … Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory warned that recent local coverage, like an incident at a Charlotte shopping center, when masked agents arrested a man who said he was a U.S. citizen …
Discussion: NewsMax.com and New York Times
Gerrit De Vynck / Washington Post:
The surprising issue driving a wedge between Trump and his MAGA base  —  President Donald Trump's attempt to block states from regulating AI sparked pushback from Republicans concerned the tech will displace workers and harm kids.  —  Just now  —  SAN FRANCISCO — President Donald Trump faces …
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Associated Press:
Big changes to the agency charged with securing elections lead to midterm worries  —  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Since it was created in 2018, the federal government's cybersecurity agency has helped warn state and local election officials about potential threats from foreign governments …
Mark Arsenault / New York Times:
At Harvard-Yale Game, Rivals Come Together Against Trump Administration Attacks  —  Students and alumni set aside rivalries at the 141st Harvard-Yale football game on Saturday to summon support against attacks on higher education under the Trump administration.
Wall Street Journal:
The CPA and the Lawyer Who Served Jeffrey Epstein—and Control His Fortune and Secrets  —  Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke worked for the convicted sex offender for years, handling payments, banking and legal matters for Epstein and women in his orbit; the men deny they knew about Epstein's crimes
David French / New York Times:
Trump Has Put the Military in an Impossible Situation  —  Imagine, for a moment, that you're an American pilot flying an F-16 over Iraq.  The troops on the ground have been pursuing a small group of Iraqi insurgents.  They report that they've cornered the insurgents in a small farm house.
Anand Giridharadas / New York Times:
How the Elite Behave When No One Is Watching: Inside the Epstein Emails  —  As journalists comb through the Epstein emails, surfacing the name of one fawning luminary after another, there is a collective whisper of “How could they?”  How could such eminent people, belonging to such prestigious institutions, succumb to this?
Discussion: The.Ink
Charlie Savage / New York Times:
As Trump's Inquisitors Face Scrutiny, a Divisive Figure Could Play a New Role … The U.S. attorney in Miami, who is running a sprawling investigation into former officials who investigated President Trump, has been granted an unusual request to convene an extra grand jury at the federal courthouse …
Bill McKibben / The Guardian:
They're doing to America what they did to Christianity  —  Trump's wrecking-ball approach to America has a precedent: the Maga evangelical perversion of Jesus's message of radical love to one of hate and aggression  —  Trumpism's most revealing and defining moments - not its most important …
Varsha Bansal / The Guardian:
Meet the AI workers who tell their friends and family to stay away from AI  —  When the people making AI seem trustworthy are the ones who trust it the least, it shows that incentives for speed are overtaking safety, experts say  —  Krista Pawloski remembers the single defining moment …
Avery Lotz / Axios:
DOJ revives push to release Epstein grand jury records  —  The Department of Justice revived its push to unseal grand jury records related to the prosecution of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, months after being stymied by the courts. … But it met legal roadblocks from three different federal judges.
Yohannes Lowe / The Guardian:
Zelenskyy says ‘we must do everything’ against ‘wicked Russian attacks’ as Ukraine and US meet for emergency talks - live  —  Officials will discuss 28-point draft plan widely seen as favourable to Moscow, despite Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022
Discussion: NewsMax.com
Heather Cox Richardson / Letters from an American:
November 22, 2025  —  On Tuesday, six Democratic lawmakers, themselves veterans of the U.S. military or intelligence services, released a video telling service members that they would stand behind them as they refused to obey unlawful orders.  —  On Thursday, President Donald J. Trump posted …
Ben Berkowitz / Axios:
Trump's not cutting off NYC, top economic advisor says  —  The White House is reassured by New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, and President Trump doesn't appear inclined to cut the city's funding, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said Sunday.
Alexandra Marquez / NBC News:
Treasury secretary says there won't be a recession in 2026  —  Scott Bessent said he was optimistic about the economy as a whole but acknowledged that some interest rate-sensitive sectors have experienced recession.  —  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday said “no” …
 
 
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 More Items: 
Fortune:
The exit economy is here. Black Women are paying the highest price
Washington Post:
Border Patrol's Charlotte sting reaches into country clubs, upscale shops
Linda Qiu / New York Times:
Fact-Checking Trump's Latest Claims on Affordability
Discussion: Breitbart and FOX 32 Chicago
Michael R. Blood / Associated Press:
A sheriff, a billionaire, a tinge of scandal. California governor's race packs drama, uncertainty
William Galston / The UnPopulist:
The Neo-Right's Multi-Front Revolt Against America
Ezra Klein / New York Times:
America's Housing Crisis, in One Chart
 Earlier Items: 
Tim Wu / New York Times:
How Can Anyone Seriously Doubt Meta Is a Monopoly?
Washington Post:
The case of a felon who paid lobbyists nearly $1 million to seek a Trump pardon
New York Times:
Why Republicans Are Fighting About the Nazis
Reuters:
Nearly 200,000 Ukrainians in US thrown into legal limbo by Trump immigration crackdown
Associated Press:
Brazil's ex-president Bolsonaro arrested over alleged plot to escape and avoid 27-year prison term
 

 
From Techmeme:

Alex Heath / Sources:
Meta's head of Threads Connor Hayes says that fediverse compatibility isn't a priority for its current roadmap, but it is something that it's “maintaining”

Financial Times:
Sources: UK officials believe China was behind the October cyber attack on the UK's Foreign Office, which aimed to access tens of thousands of sensitive files

Chris McGuire / Council on Foreign Relations:
US approving Nvidia H200 exports to China is based on the idea that Huawei is a viable competitor, but data shows the gap between Nvidia and Huawei is widening

 
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